Galás is known for being a fiercely confrontational avant-garde performer and is noted for her wailing, four-octave vocal range. Galás was the daughter of Greek Orthodox parents and her singing was roundly discouraged, although her prowess as a classical pianist was nurtured; ultimately, her strict upbringing resulted in a reckless, drug-fueled youth prior to her entrance into the University of California's music and visual arts program. Galás made her performing debut in 1979 at France's Festival d'Avignon, which led to an invitation to assume the lead role in composer Vinko Globokar's politically charged opera Un Jour Comme un Autre. In subsequent solo performance art pieces like Wild Women with Steak Knives and Tragouthia Apo to Aima Exon Fonos, Galás further honed her unique, shattering vocal style, inspired by the Schrei ("shriek") opera of German expressionism (a form employing a system of four microphones and a series of echoes and delays).
She worked with many avant-garde composers including Phillip Glass, Terry Riley, John Zorn, Iannis Xenakis and Vinko Globokar. She made her performance debut at the Festival d'Avignon in France as the lead in Globokar's opera, Un Jour Comme Une Autre which deals with the death by torture of a Turkish woman. The work was sponsored by Amnesty International. She also contributed her voice to Francis Ford Coppola's film Dracula (1992) and appeared on the film's soundtrack.
Her work first garnered widespread attention with the controversial 1991 live recording of the album "Plague Mass" in the Cathedral of Saint John the Divine in New York. With it, Galás attacked the Catholic Church for its indifference to AIDS using biblical texts. In the words of Terrorizor Magazine, "The church was made to burn with sound, not fire." Plague Mass was a live rendition of excerpts from her same-titled trilogy which began as a response/homage/indictment to the multitudinous effects of AIDS upon the silent class - of which her brother was a member. During the period of these recordings, Galás had "We are all HIV+" tattooed upon her knuckles; an artistic expression of disillusionment and disgust with the ignorance and apathy surrounding the AIDS epidemic. Her brother, who died during the trilogy's final production, reportedly appreciated her efforts.
Susan McClary (1991) writes that Galás, "heralds a new moment in the history of musical representation," after describing her thus: "Galás emerged within the post-modern performance art scene in the seventies...protesting...the treatment of victims of the junta, attitudes towards victims of AIDS...Her pieces are constructed from the ululation of traditional Mediterranean keening...whispers, shrieks, and moans."
In 1994, Galás collaborated with Led Zeppelin bass guitarist John Paul Jones. The resultant record, "The Sporting Life", while containing much of Galás's trademark vocal gymnastics, is probably the closest she has ever come to rock music.
Galás also performs as a blues artist interpreting a wide range of songs into her unique piano and vocal styles. This aspect of her work is perhaps best represented by her 1992 album, "The Singer" where she covered the likes of Willie Dixon, Roy Acuff, and Screamin' Jay Hawkins while accompaning herself on piano. For that album, she also recorded several traditional songs as well as the rarely heard Desmond Carter-penned version of Gloomy Sunday. Many of her selections both within and outside of blues repertoire have sometimes been categorized as 'homicidal love songs'. She also focuses on the death penalty. One program of songs, "Frenzy", has been dedicated to Aileen Wuornos and features the work of Phil Ochs and Hank Williams Sr.
Her latest song cycle is an interpretation of songs by Edith Piaf and Marlene Dietrich.
Official Myspace: http://www.myspace.com/songsofexile
L'heautontimoroumenos
Diamanda Galás Lyrics
Jump to: Overall Meaning ↴ Line by Line Meaning ↴
No rage, no rancor: I shall beat you
As butchers fell an ox,
As Moses smote the rock in Horeb-
I shall make you weep,
And by the waters of affliction
My desert will be slaked.
Will frolic in your tears
As a ship tosses on the ocean-
In my besotted heart
Your adorable sobs will echo
Like an ecstatic drum.
For I - am I not a dissonance
In the divine accord,
Because of the greedy Irony
Which infiltrates my soul?
I hear it in my voice - that shrillness,
That poison in my blood!
I am the sinister glass in which
The Fury sees herself!
I am the knife and the wound it deals,
I am the slap and the cheek,
I am the wheel and the broken limbs,
Hangman and victim both!
I am the vampire at my own veins,
One of the great lost horde
Doomed for the rest of my time, and beyond,
′To laugh - and smile no more'
(Taken from Les Fleurs du Mal, translated by Richard Howard)
The lyrics of Diamanda Galás’s L'heautontimoroumenos, which is derived from Baudelaire's poem, describe the singer's internal struggle as he contemplates his desire for revenge. He speaks of how he will destroy his enemy, not with anger or hatred but with a cold, calculated approach. He draws comparisons to biblical stories, describing his actions as those of a butcher slaying an ox or Moses striking a rock. The singer believes that inflicting pain on his enemy will bring him satisfaction and quench his own desires.
The lyrics continue to describe the singer's own inner turmoil. He acknowledges that the vengeful side of his nature is at odds with a divine harmony, which he recognizes as his own internal dissonance that stems from a "greedy irony" that permeates his being. With an air of self-awareness and candor, the singer identifies both the beauty and the ugliness within himself. He recognizes the connection between the pain he inflicts on others and the pain he feels within himself. Rather than denying his own darkness, he embraces it as part of his nature, recognizing himself as "the vampire at my own veins."
Overall, the song's lyrics seem to explore the complex nature of human desires and the inherent contradictions within ourselves. It touches on themes of revenge and self-destructive behavior while also acknowledging the beauty that can be found in darkness and pain.
Line by Line Meaning
No rage, no rancor: I shall beat you
Without anger or bitterness, I will defeat you like a butcher slaughters an ox or Moses struck the rock in Horeb.
I shall make you weep,
I will cause you to cry.
And by the waters of affliction
Your tears will quench my thirst for revenge.
My desert will be slaked.
My emptiness will be filled.
My desire, that hope has made monstrous,
My overwhelming longing, fueled by hope, has grown into a terrible monster.
Will frolic in your tears
I will revel in the sight of you crying.
As a ship tosses on the ocean-
Like a boat being thrown on the waves of the sea.
In my besotted heart
In my love-drunk heart.
Your adorable sobs will echo
Your charming cries will reverberate.
Like an ecstatic drum.
Like the sound of a wild, joyful drum.
For I - am I not a dissonance
Because of my ironic and cynical nature, am I not in conflict with divine harmony?
In the divine accord,
The balance of heaven.
Because of the greedy Irony
Due to the insatiable appetite of my cynical self.
Which infiltrates my soul?
Which seeps into my soul?
I hear it in my voice - that shrillness,
I can hear it in my voice, the sharpness.
That poison in my blood!
That venom flowing in my veins!
I am the sinister glass in which
I am the ill-omened glass that reflects,
The Fury sees herself!
Where the wrath sees itself!
I am the knife and the wound it deals,
I am the weapon and the pain it causes,
I am the slap and the cheek,
I am the hand and the face it hits,
I am the wheel and the broken limbs,
I am the torture device and its broken victims,
Hangman and victim both!
Both the executioner and the executed!
I am the vampire at my own veins,
I am the bloodsucker of my own life force,
One of the great lost horde
One of the numerous and wretched lost souls
Doomed for the rest of my time, and beyond,
Cursed for all my time, and even after it,
?To laugh - and smile no more'
To never laugh or smile again.
Writer(s): Diamanda Galas
Contributed by Stella G. Suggest a correction in the comments below.
Pyra Barnes
My favorite French poet/poem done by my favorite vocal performance artist. I have always loved/will always love this performance.
cyberpunknexus6reload reload
Scary as hell voice and creepy dark atmosphere but so beautiful poetry at the same time. Charles Baudelaire and Diamanda Galas = just the perfect couple!!
Dominga Doflaminga
I wish he was alive so he could witness how Diamanda makes justice to his poetry. Diamanda's Litanies of Satan is the best homage the poem could have received.
Juan Parrazal
Larga vida a Diamanda !
seeer1978
Morgawse Arth, thank you....! it was amazing to witness this mystery of sound, music and... voice of our Goddess.
aleksandar visantini
DIVINA!!!
Helen Jang
every song by her is so good. every song
Titty France
magnificence ultime 0['-=
human
Diamanda💓🌹
MartianMiss
timeless